The Fast and The Furious
by ellemarchen
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. – —Dangerous!Sena, Sena-centric, OOC, WIP
1. Pandora's Box

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 18+  
Warning: OOC  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 1: Pandora's Box

_Featuring:_

Children who really should have known better — a pacifist trapped in a corner — and the inevitable outcome of what happens when you push someone too far and too hard

—

**A SMALL FACT CONCERNING KOBAYAKAWA SENA:**

He didn't deserve the way he was being treated. Then again, by society's moral standards, nobody else deserved to be treated that way either.

"Hurry up, slowpoke Sena. You're so _slow_."

"Why don't you carry our stuff, _huh_? Maybe you'll be useful for once."

"C'mon already; it can't be that _hard_ to clean a classroom, can it?"

Ever since Kobayakawa Sena was in pre-K, he had always been bullied by his male classmates. Bullied into carrying their backpacks, into getting their lunch, into cleaning up after them. It had become so much of a common sight that both his female classmates and his teachers turned a blind eye to what was happening to him. Sena was a small slip of boy; his petite stature and Asian face obvious proof of his pure Japanese genes and blood, and it wasn't through any fault of his own that he was a prime target for bullies. He was just so _tiny_ and he was just _there_.

The fact that no one helped him could have been attributed to the bystander effect, the social psychological phenomenon where individuals don't offer any means of help in an emergency situation to the victim when other people are present, but no one liked to think that they were so inhuman that they wouldn't help another in need. People simply wrote it off that they simply 'didn't know' Sena was being bullied and left it at that. So when he was being more tormented than usual by his 'classmates', naturally, no one came to save him.

"Hahahaha! Sena likes it rough! Sena likes it rough!" A boy Sena's age said gleefully as he pushed Sena around as though he was an old rag doll, a toy that was meant to be bent and twisted and broken.

He couldn't distinguish the faces of his bullies at all, despite the fact that he knew all of them for at least two years now. To him, they were all just a blob; shapes and visages all mixed together, each expression the same as the last. There was no difference from one bully to the next. It was a sad, but true fact that when Sena even saw or even heard a bully, they were regarded all in the same way: as the enemy.

(One monster was silently released from Pandora's box so swiftly that not even the wind had noticed—a monster so calculating, so cunning, that it schemed its way back to the box so that it could pick at the lock and let the other monsters out.)

"Of course he does," another boy snorted sarcastically, a malevolent grin spreading over his lips after a particular hard shove; the same sort a child would have after holding a magnifying glass over ants on a hot summer day or successfully getting away with tricking their parents into getting the newest model of a Honda dirt bike.

It should be noted that Sena was a pacifist at heart—a peace lover if you would, and a general overall non-violent person due to the fact he disliked violence and feared the feeling of pain. At six, he was the most passive-aggressive of his age group and he simply accepted that what happened to him was normal: something that wasn't unusual in society nor was it uncommon. He didn't know that the things he was subjected to—physical suffering, humiliation, shame, drudgery—were all things that weren't tolerated and that no one could get away with it scot-free in the world today.

He did, however, know that there were limits to a person's endurance, to a human's tolerance for pain. A boundary, that no matter how tempting, should never be breached.

(There was only so much you could pour into a cup before it overflowed, only so many times you could drop a cellphone on the floor before it didn't work and couldn't serve its purpose anymore. A beast is unleashed from its cage, a tentative step, breaking into a run only after knowing for sure that its freedom has come.)

"It must be fun playing in the mud, right? Does the earth taste good, Kobayakawa?" Another male voice mocks him as his face is shoved into the dirt, taunting him as they leisurely take their time flipping through a sports magazine.

Enough was enough. Even the weak got tired of the same old routine. In the end, someone had to break. No one ever said it wouldn't have been Sena, though.

(The way Sena breaks is the same way the rest of the suicidal and the homicidal people do—hanging themselves, overdose on drugs, killing everyone else with guns, falling purposely from a building. Except Sena doesn't just _break_. He gets payback. And that, in the end, is what makes all the difference.)

An ugly and furious look came over Sena's face, his eyes taking on an even darker shade of brown than dried blood.

(Pandora's box is opened and hope is trapped inside.)

"Do you think that if you cry out for help, someone will come to _your rescue_?" The last boy said maliciously, a derisive smile on his face as he towered over Sena's prone and trodden form. The other three were next to the boy, all spectators at an execution.

(A fallen angel falls from heaven: unforgiving, vengeful, and both God and human is a curse on its lips. The words triggered resentment and it led to hate.)

It was oppression. It was slavery. And it was hatred that had been bottled up to the point until it would finally burst. A cold fury unlike any other surrounded Sena, deafening in its silence and violence it promised as something snapped inside him—something like glass shattering or when fine china is thrown against the wall. His fear left him and he was overwhelmed with anger.

What happened next was natural, and frankly, something a long time in coming.

They were punched and kicked and destroyed by a boy who was utterly consumed by rage. His knuckles and nails were so frighteningly strong despite their minuteness. His voice, too, was able to hurt them. It was retribution at its finest, not that Sena could recognize it because he thought it was just animalistic instinct: something fast and furious like the automatic response of fight and flight.

(This is what happens when a pacifist is forced to defend himself and no one comes to save him. No knight-in-shining-armor, no mentor-in-the-form-of-a-wizard, no old-lady-with-an-apple-in-her-hand. No one.)

Somewhere underneath all the bruised bodies, Sena could see his broken heart in pieces, each piece shining with some sort of inner light and beating beneath all that flesh and blood. He stood above the whirlpool of beaten faces on the ground, taking only a cursory glance of his handiwork, and announced:

"I'm sick of it."

(Dark mahogany hair in the sun, a shadow over the boy's face, and a strange flicker of ferociousness in the eyes: as the faces looked at the boy standing above them calmly, they could only understand one thing.)

_I'm so sick of you._

"I'm tired of this."

(They were the ones who had made this being before them.)

_I'm tired of your ugliness._

Sena did not kill them. But he came close.

(Six is an unlucky number after all since it was the Devil's number and so Sena is six-years-old when he gives into his everlasting fury and all-consuming hate. Not that anyone knew. But soon the world will know. The world will know the name of Kobayakawa Sena.)

Blood drips down from Sena's nails, blood splattered all over the earth not unlike the mud stains on his clothes, and he says nothing at all as he stares blankly to everything before him.

("What have I done?" Pandora says in shock, terror written all over her face after she realized that the box she had opened that was given as a gift was actually a curse in and of itself.

'What have we done?' Little boys think dumbly, numb with the knowledge that they were the ones responsible for making an ordinary boy turn into an extraordinary creature.

Whathaveyoudone_whathaveyoudone_**whathaveyoudone**—)

"I did this," Sena says wonderingly, as though he's found one of the Seven Wonders of the World or the meaning of life itself, looking bewilderedly at his hands and feet, the tools and instruments which had wrought destruction and defeat.

(The deed sinks, sinks, _sinks_, into the mud, into his head and bones, and hell hath no fury like a victim scorned, like a child abused. Fast and furious, furious and fast, and dirty as you can.)

Sena smiles and all is right with the world.


	2. Pride, Joy, and Love

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 18+  
Warning: OOC  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 2: Pride, Joy, and Love

_Featuring:_

The parents behind the child — unconditional love — the honorable son — and the nine years in between the ages of six and fifteen

—

**A FAMILY PHOTO OF THE KOBAYAKAWA FAMILY:**

Altogether, there were only four of them: the office worker father, the stay-at-home mother, the beloved only son, and the resident housecat. The man would be on the left, the woman on the right, both of whom would be standing directly behind their only child, and the boy would be in the middle on a chair with the cat on his lap.

The Kobayakawa family was normal at its best and boring at its worse. It was the standard family setting: parents, child, and the family house pet. The house they lived in was two-storied and roomy, a rare sight in an otherwise crowded city, and the family was well-off enough that Kobayakawa Shuuma, Sena's father, needed only one job to support them all.

Kobayakawa Sena's parents were the type of parents who would leave their son to his own devices: not because they were neglectful or just didn't have time, but because they trusted him. They were authoritative parents: supportive, loving, and committed, willing to not only discuss standard conduct, but anything and everything Sena wanted to know about. So of course when their son came back home one day with a boyish grin on his face and mud-colored splotches on his shirt and pants (which had looked suspiciously like hours-old dried blood), they reacted accordingly.

**SOME FACTS ABOUT KOBAYAKAWA SHUUMA AND KOBAYAKAWA MIHAE:**

There was only one reason why they didn't panic or call the police.

They love their son.

Both Mihae and Shuuma had stared for a split second at Sena (after all, it wasn't every day that your only son came back home looking like he just came back from a 4-on-1 fight and winning hands-down) before they caught themselves at what they were doing and snapped out of their daze. His mother wiped the blood off his right cheek and Sena thanked her as he faintly smiled a warm and humane smile.

(The smile, in its absolute warmth and humanistic nature, was what convinced both of his parents to not do anything. This smile, this childish yet beautiful smile, was what calmed them down and stayed their hands from moving, from acting out their immediate impulses to tear and destroy the one who hurt their dearest son.)

Besides the usual worried fretting by the mother about the filthy clothes and the usual warm welcome by the father when his son had finally come home, nothing had changed. The reception of their son when he returned home from school was still the same although there was the addition of sullied clothing.

Seasons came and went. Years passed. Sena still came home everyday with dirty clothes, copper splotches here and there, but otherwise unscathed. Evidently, Mihae would chastise him about his clothes and worry about superficial injuries and Shuuma would just be on the edge of Sena's peripheral vision smiling at the customary routine. Despite the fact that Sena had changed drastically, he was still the same boy in many other ways. He deferred to his parents, gave honor to them, and did what was asked of him.

(Sena was a dutiful son, if nothing else. He mowed the lawn in the summer, shoveled the snow on the driveway in the winter, cleaned the house on the weekends, cooked dinner at night if both of his parents were too tired, studiously kept his grades up, and all sorts of other things that pertained to either school or family. He was an honorable son, one whom parents would have been proud of and loved with all their heart.)

The parents loved their son. The son loved his parents. This one truth of many could never be denied. Sena was their precious little one, their little jewel. He was their pride and joy, but most of all, he was also their love. Although both his mother and father would attempt to direct Sena's life onto a healthy and legal lifestyle, ultimately, it would be Sena who had the last say. They would back their son on whatever he wanted because he knew what was best for himself.

(Behind every great child are great parents and Sena's parents were great indeed even though they were ordinary. Mihae and Shuuma loved their son unconditionally, completely and absolutely, and it was because of this that even though Sena had broke, had snapped, they could still recognize their son under the defense mechanism that was his hidden fury.)

Sena's parents waited, counting down the days until Sena would confide into them, patience a virtue, but such a hard one to hold (to preach and practice, to say and do.)

And so they prayed. And so they hoped. As time went by, the only thing that changed was the family growing older, and so the family photo had stayed relatively the same.

(Pre-K, K, Elementary, and Middle school years fly by with Sena remembering not a single one of his classmates because their faces swamped together, become one, and so he cannot tell one from another. The nine years in between the ages of six and fifteen are just a blur, a mirage of some sort. A daydream of fury being tempered and speed being pushed to the limits of human capability.)

The answer comes nine years after the fact that Sena became a professional beast in one moment.

(It slowly crept up, like the leaves of summer turning into the leaves of autumn: a brilliant green turning into a brilliant fire, and the world burned through its transition.)

Sena wakes up, the sun in his eyes, and smiles strangely to his ceiling that is the sky.

At the end of his futon by his feet, his calico cat Pitt purred contentedly, a hum of _something_ exciting just below her teeth.

_Yes_, Sena thinks, _today is going to be different indeed._


	3. At a Distance

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 18+  
Warning: OOC  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 3: At a Distance

_Featuring:_

Orientation — Anezaki Mamori — the Devil and his sidekick — and the mailbox and the answering machine

—

**OBSERVATIONS DONE ON ONE SIDE:**

From afar, Kobayakawa Sena wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

This was not entirely true and therefore was an outright lie.

It's true that when Sena first arrived at the gates of Deimon High School on Orientation Day (the day to find out whether you got into the school or not) he hadn't really made a stellar impression by yawning softly behind his right hand while simultaneously looking like he'd just gotten out of his bed. Even if he was dressed in uniform and actually did look excited, it wasn't anything different from everyone else that was there looked like. No… the thing that _really_ made him stand out was the fact that he was by himself and that there was no one who greeted him upon entrance to the school grounds.

Perhaps it would have been considered sad once upon a time how he had no friends and therefore no one to go to Orientation Day with him, but it was no matter. After all, Sena had all the time in the world to do things and he had no use for bullies or even bystanders. There was no benefit or even any reason for him to involve himself with others, to spend time with them if they weren't even to his liking (he couldn't, after all, stand any of his previous classmates, and the smaller more vicious part of him was downright smug about _this_ particular fact). This didn't mean, however, that he was opposed to greetings from strangers. In fact, he encouraged it even if quietly he didn't understand it himself why he was so much kinder to strangers than to people he knew (he figured, most likely, it was because he didn't know their true nature yet and so he was giving them the benefit of doubt).

This was how Anezaki Mamori and Kobayakawa Sena first met, but not how they first necessarily spoke with each other.

It was obvious, from a distance, that Sena (although Mamori did not know yet that this was the younger boy's name) was alone. He had this space about him, empty and vacant, and this was the first thing she noticed of the brown-haired boy. The next thing that caught her attention was his profile; the way he held himself languidly as though in a daydream, yet somehow each movement he made still had meaning, importance. He stood out from the rest of the people that were there, similar to how a raven would stand out in a crowd of crows, and it made Mamori feel a bit of delight that she was there for her Student Council duties if she could witness such a sight. The boy even turned to her direction, his chocolate-colored eyes melting, softening when they lay upon her, faintly smiling as she smiled back.

(It wasn't anything romantic that she felt for the younger teen, though. More like an appreciation of something that was rare, something special like rainbows in puddles after the rain, or childish graffiti art of smiley faces and handprints that somehow just instantly brighten your day. The boy was attractive, lithe body and a handsome face and all, but then again, so was the Sistine Chapel ceiling and so she saw the boy as one would only see something eye-catching: apprising and admiring.)

There was something off about the smile though, Mamori knew. Something that wasn't quite right but wasn't necessarily wrong, either. She didn't let it bother her too much, but the thought of the younger teen lingered in her mind, as did his faint smile and glass-like amber-colored eyes even after he disappeared into the mass of people to look for his number on the board.

**A RELEVANT FACT:**

Anezaki Mamori wasn't the only one to notice that Kobayakawa Sena wasn't exactly all there. The difference, however, was that while Anezaki Mamori was quite satisfied to look at Sena from a distance, Hiruma Yoichi, however, was not.

Like Mamori, Hiruma noticed right off the bat that the brunette with the card number 021 was someone to watch out for and observe. The younger teen might have been slight and a midget, but he could tell from those deceptively soft-looking hands that the shrimp knew how to make another person's life be in a world of hurt. That, and the Mona Lisa smile that the russet-colored boy had on his face as well as those hazy hazel eyes were a dead giveaway of someone who was dangerous just waiting for the right trigger to pull them apart and make a 360 degrees gun shooting.

So it was no surprise at all that he found Sena as a perfect candidate for American Football and subsequently dragged Kurita, his sidekick for recruitment, for obligatory congratulations when it became blatantly clear that the brat got into Deimon.

"YA-HA! Congrats on your success!" The Devil and his sidekick cheered, lifting a thoroughly confused Sena into the air as a father would lift his son after he spoke his very first word. By the time Sena registered in his head that strangers had just shamelessly lifted him into the air, he was already back on the ground as though what had just happened was a common, everyday thing. It was the first time that such a thing happened to Sena and so he did not know how to react.

Before he could even find an appropriate response, the older teen with blond hair had already whipped out a cellphone and had somehow hoodwinked him into giving him his home phone number. The blond cackled insanely, and Sena felt that it would be better for his health if he just backed away slowly and went back home even though he really wanted to know why the other needed his home phone number of all things.

Later, when Sena arrived back home, he would find stuffed in his mailbox numerous ads of American Football and his answering machine with a message on repeat about power, speed, and tactics—the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation just suddenly dawned upon him.

**ONE TRUTH AMONG MANY:**

Sena, while having no patience for people out to get him physically or people who should've protected him just stare at him dumbly, couldn't help but be intrigued by people who spent copious amounts of effort on one thing.

In translation: hardworking people fascinated him.

Sena laughed, because the entire situation of him being flooded with advertisements and voice messages _was_ sort of funny, and couldn't help but wonder if this was what the feeling he had this morning meant—if the thrill of excitement was pointing to this, leading to this. Today had been different in spite of everything: an older girl actually noticing him though not in a romantic sense and two older boys (supposedly, the Devil and his sidekick from what he overheard some of the people in the throng on the Deimon School grounds) who actually lifted him in the air—and even if this wasn't what he had been waiting for, wasn't the answer he had been searching for, it was alright. Sena had time and there was no need to rush things although a deeper part of him, the one filled with unrestrained fury and the need for things _to be done_ wanting to just get out, there was just no use in hurrying or forcing something to happen.

_Get it done, get it done_, Sena's heart says, but what is there to be done if nothing has even started yet? Sena hushes this part of him, this creatively resourceful yet hazardous part of him, and waits because a day or two, a month or year meant nothing to him in the grand scheme of things, in the bigger picture or even in the long run. These things took time and so he simply smiled softly.

(Time, after all, is found in the depths of dreams, and soon Sena will be drowning in them if Hiruma had anything to say about _that_.)


	4. Smiling Face, Sinister Feelings

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 18+  
Warning: OOC  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 4: Smiling Face, Sinister Feelings

_Featuring:_

The first day of school — Kurita Ryokan — clash on the bridge — a meeting of the eyes — and the dive

—

**A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION:**

Despite the incident when he was six, Sena didn't have a reputation. He did, however, leave an impression.

At six, Sena had been a small slip of a boy. At fifteen, he wasn't much better. He was still undersized for his age, still demure in his looks: the epitome of what a quiet and shy boy is if it wasn't for the little unknown fact that he was a passive-aggressive person who wouldn't let anyone touch his right cheek let alone his left. So it wasn't any surprise that after classes had ended on the first day of school, he was approached by three of his male "classmates".

"Oi, Sena!" A boy with an X-shaped scar on his right cheek—Juumonji Kazuki if he remembered right—called, and Sena could tell from the two that were following behind the taller boy—Togano Shozo with orange-tinted sunglasses and Kuroki Koji with the dark brown hair respectively—that they were going to be a problem. Bullies, or rather, delinquents, if he judged correctly from the barely hidden malice in their eyes.

(_Well_, Sena thought, _that was fast_. His standard face of forced cheerfulness fell for a second, a savage scowl and dark look in his eyes replacing it, but the transformation slipped by unnoticed before he once again was the meek-looking boy with frailty practically built into his bones and cells.)

"Yes? How may I help you three?" Sena said casually as though he was just sitting down for a cup tea instead of getting ready to head back home. All three grinned viciously to different degrees—Kuroki more enthusiastic than Juumonji, Togano more blasé, but it was clear to anyone that was around (which meant _everyone_ in the classroom, including the **teacher**) that all three were itching to cause some trouble. Trouble… for him.

(And wasn't it _grand_ how **no one** was stopping them? How they were all watching on the sidelines, bystanders that they are, and simply did _nothing_? Fury started to boil in the pit of Sena's stomach, but he didn't let it boil over _yet_. There were, after all, **bullies** to deal with. Spectators, Sena knew from _personal_ experience, could be dealt with whenever and _wherever_ he wanted.)

"We just wanted to know," Juumonji said, and Sena could feel his wrath building at this boy's _pretentiousness_, "if you could just get a little something for us," amusement plain on his rough features.

(The need to fight simmered in Sena's hands: sweating and festering like a terminal disease.)

"Of course, you only have five minutes to do it, but that's fine, right?" Togano mockingly said, and both he and Kuroki guffawed, as though what he said was some sort of sick, inside joke.

"Don't be late," Kuroki wheezed out, his expectancy literally making Sena wanting to tear the boy a new one (maybe those eyelashes or perhaps those fingernails, Sena thought briefly, nasty thoughts just beneath his smiling façade, and it was so _easy_ to just imagine their ugliness painted on his hands and clothes).

It was not a smile he gave them—more like a tear of the mouth—and so came his ultimatum.

"Certainly," Sena pleasantly uttered, a boy in a secret garden where only he knew the answers to every question, "but I simply do not have any time for you." He started for the door, almost out of the classroom before Juumonji grabbed the sleeve of his school uniform, and everyone held their breath as they waited to see how the train wreck would come out.

They could hear nothing, but the manner in which Sena had shrugged loose was loud enough. Sena's face was detached, his eyes unreadable: a stark contrast to his previous light expression.

(Sena let the action pass—for a moment—but in the deep recesses of his mind, he did not let it go. Because Kobayakawa Sena did not forgive, but more than anything else, he did not forget, and so he would not take anything lying down.)

He placated the three with his next words, his back towards them, "If you find this dissatisfactory, you can find me in the worn down storage room in the back of the school." His face tilted back to them, a faint smile playing on his lips, and exited before anyone could have any say whatsoever.

**A NECESSARY EXPLANATION:**

The only reason why Sena had decided to meet those three after school was because dealing with bullies was like dealing with a band-aid: if you didn't get rid of it as fast as you can, you never _will_. The faster he dealt with the problem, the faster the problem will no longer _be_ a problem.

"The American Football Club, huh? You chose a great place for your grave, Sena," Juumonji grinned toothily, more teeth than lips, and laughing sardonically. Sena simply smiled, a serene visage in the mess that was the small storage room.

"Yo, check me out!" Kuroki exclaimed, his body decked out in an American Football uniform, the clothes actually seeming to fit him.

"Ha ha, it suits you well!" Togano agreed. Sena observed the three of them fiddling around with the things in the place, eventually deciding that he might as well act now just so that he could get things over with. Before he could make a move, though, someone else came in the room.

**A PLEASANT INTERRUPTION:**

The appearance of the bigger teenager was unexpected, but not unwelcome. In fact, Sena was relieved because getting in a fight on his first day of school wasn't really good for his track record.

The teenager in the doorway visibly shook, excitement nearly pouring off of him, and Sena could only look on in curiosity at what was happening right in front of him.

"Could it be… that you guys want to join the club!" The older boy shouted, pointing to the four in the room.

"Huh?"

"Huuuh?"

"Huuuuuuh?"

(Privately, Sena had an urge to say the catchphrase, too, but squished the desire down before he could.)

After seeing the three Huh Huh Brothers being literally thrown out (and filing away what the bigger teenager said about blocking by pushing with the palms of your hands), only Sena and the other teenager was left in the room. The subsequent welcome by the older teen weirded Sena out, as well as the eventual letdown (it concerned him a bit, how depressing someone could get in a minute's notice, but Sena tried to not let it bother him), but it was fun. Especially so when Kurita began talking about the Christmas Bowl.

"It's the ultimate battlefield for war! Someday, we will also stand on that field! Wouldn't you agree? Even though we lost our first battle, we will make it back into the tournament! All of us, together!" Kurita spoke avidly, zeal flowing right out of him like a tsunami. Sena, upon seeing such passion, could only feel enthralled, and somehow, enraptured.

(And a small, lonely bit of him felt hope rise up because this was most likely what he had been waiting for.)

"I'd love to join," Sena stated, the soft earth of his eyes shimmering, an iridescent light shining upon the world. Kurita observed the strangeness of the younger teen's eyes, and upon seeing them, understood that Kobayakawa Sena was worth a lot.

(Kurita offered him a dream. Sena took it, and gave back a soul. A heart full of gold, a soul made of silver. Somehow, it fit.)

Kurita took both of Sena's wrists and swung, his happiness infectious, yelling, "Let's aim towards the Christmas Bowl together!"

Later, once they had exchanged cellphone numbers, Sena headed back home. He was on the bridge above the street and was distracted by the fact that he actually had a phone number besides his home phone when suddenly a punch came towards his face. He swiftly caught the fist, pushed it away, looked up to see the perpetrator, and saw the Huh Huh Brothers.

"We've been waiting for you," Juumonji said stiffly, and Sena could see that all three were ready to fight.

"Oh? Sorry to keep you waiting, then," Sena amiably replied back, as if Juumonji hadn't just tried to smash his face right in.

"But to use a bat… Will it be alright? Isn't a little too much?" The brown-haired delinquent swung the bat in his right hand carelessly, but Sena knew better than to let it out of his sight (he made a mental note to himself to get rid of it the first chance he got).

"Well, it's not the best way, since we already have a record with the police, but if we can find a good reason to use it… Let's just say that the fat kid attacked us with it. That would put an end to that American Football Club." The delinquent with the X-shaped scar said mockingly in a joking, derisive manner. Flashes of what Kurita said appeared in Sena's mind, and it was then in that moment that Sena simply reacted.

He made short work of them, giving them the beatdown of their lives, first breaking the bat in Kuroki's hands, and then just beating all three within an inch of their lives. The expression on Sena's face was cold and said only this:

_You don't interest me._

_You're not even worth a moment of my time._

_You don't even exist in my world._

_You… are nothing._

Sena bent down to where their damaged bodies laid, smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and merely said, "Shall I break your teeth with my fist?"

They gritted their teeth, knowing that they could do nothing but still wanting to beat up Sena. Sena's smile became wider, nearly splitting his face in two, and lifted his hands up in a manner of appeasement. He stepped back, letting them collect themselves, and they could barely stand (though, with that much hatred in their eyes, that would be a completely different story). His back was once again towards them, the image of it now becoming something unpleasantly familiar. His head once again was turned towards them, smirking, and issued a challenge:

"Catch me if you can," Sena called, a brilliant, blank smile that was as empty as an entire blue sky without a cloud in sight, and jumped on the railing, running on it as though the thing wasn't anything like running on a balance beam at all. He stopped temporarily in the crowded street he ended up in, looked over it for all the pathways in the crowd he could take, knowing that not far behind him, the delinquents were catching up. Just when one of them almost grabbed him, Sena shifted, a burst of speed and movement, and ran.

As he went pass the people through a path that only he could see, he passed by the blond who had somehow weaseled his cell and phone number. Their eyes met, and Sena could see surprise in the older teen's eyes, before Sena once again was on his way to the train he had to catch. Since the blond hadn't stopped him (probably thinking that breeze was just a strange wind and that those brown eyes he saw was a figment of his imagination), Sena felt that he was safe and therefore wouldn't get in trouble (after all, the only conclusion that could be made of one student running away from three others would be that a fight broke out and it wouldn't do Sena any good if something like detention in the first week of school happened).

He dived into the train, the doors just closing after him, and felt exhilarated beyond belief, and laughed aloud at the absurd situation he found himself in, mussed up and deliriously happy.

**THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER:**

Sena had gotten away with nothing. The blond had seen him all right. He was just waiting for the right moment.

The blond hadn't initially been interested in the maple-haired boy when he saw him in the crowd—at least, not much, even though he knew the kid was one who could snap at a moment's notice. Sure, he was interested in people's lives—you had to be if you wanted to be an expert blackmailer—but even evil, dark intentions needed their downtime. That changed, however, when he saw the younger teen run. He followed the kid, amazed at the kid's skill (the carry, the spinning) and swift legs, and grinned crazily when he watched the shorty dive into the train.

Already calculating all the uses the kid would have, Hiruma cackled diabolically, not unlike how kids who play Crazy Taxi, and like a king who owned the whole world, sat as though he was on a throne on Juumonji's head. He made short work of the three delinquents—an insurance in the case that they got the bright idea to jump the kid at school.

It was good to be Hiruma Yoichi, evil genius extraordinaire—he just had to wait to confront the kid and he had all the time to create an opportunity, make a chance encounter. Hiruma smiled darkly, and all was going to go according plan whether the younger teen knew it or not.


	5. 5 Seconds to Countdown

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 18+  
Warning: OOC  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 5: 5 Seconds to Countdown

_Featuring:_

No blackmail — 4.2 seconds — and a short notice

—

**THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN A MAN WHO HAS BLACKMAIL ON YOU:**

A man who does nothing with it.

The next day when Sena showed up for the American Football club's morning meeting, had thought upon seeing the blond in the crowd from yesterday that there was nothing at all to worry about. This was proven wrong when the older teen grinned toothily at him as a shark would toward a school of shrimp and mouthed his next words as a serial killer did in a 2-bit movie with sub-par funding:

[I know what you did last night.] The older teen then cackled eerily similar to how the Queen did in Disney's Snow White movie when she was planning Snow White's demise and continued to act creepily smug.

On the surface, Sena was mostly unflappable and unwavering. Below, however, he was unnerved, untied, and undone. He smiled cautiously at the blond, the urge to fidget in the American football gear at an all-time high, and simply asked politely exactly what the upperclassman was going to do about it.

If it was even possible, the blond acted even more smug than before and seemed to relish in what he was about to tell the brunette, his mouth lifting into an even bigger smirk as he went up close and personal to the shorter teen's face.

"You _really _want to know?" Hiruma asked slyly, the executor with a guillotine over a supposed criminal's neck. Sena, although feeling cornered and trapped, held himself in a mannerly way and merely nodded his head in assent without betraying what he actually felt. As the upperclassman said his next words, he gestured his hands dramatically in a mocking manner, showing a feigned benevolence yet in reality wasn't benevolent at all.

"Nothing." The blond shrugged, revealing that he didn't seem to care at all, but Sena knew better. Underneath the older teen's guise of indulging him that he would look the other way and turn a blind eye to certain inferred actions, was a hypothetical threat. Hiruma had the potential and the capability to make his life uncomfortable and Sena recognized this truth with the clinical and detached eyes of a scientist that had just finished examining a human carcass. The sepia-haired boy would have even almost called it blackmail if it wasn't for the fact that he could actually care less about such a thing and had his mind focused on more important matters. Oh, certainly the fact that a stranger, for all intents and purposes, had incriminating information about him should have been worrying, but it didn't concern Sena much for one simple reason: Hiruma had not told anyone, and after careful observation, the younger teen concluded that the blond would not do anything about it. Perhaps from another's point of view that the action of Hiruma telling him this was a piece of blackmail in and of itself, but to Sena it was Hiruma simply accepting him: the blond knew something about the brunette and told the brunette that he knew and then did nothing else.

This did not mean that Hiruma was not willing to blackmail him later on, however. Anything that he could use against the brown-haired boy later on, Hiruma would use it in a heartbeat if he could get away with it. He just didn't do it now simply because it was unnecessary and would be a waste of energy. Still, once he started acting up in a way that wasn't advantageous to the blond, Sena knew he would swiftly be dealt with. They were dangerous to each other: Hiruma to Sena for the fact that he had damning evidence on Sena and Sena to Hiruma for the fact that he could not and will not be completely controlled by Hiruma. Sena was a wild card, otherwise known as the queen in a game of chess, and would therefore be best employed left to his own devices and running free.

In the moments before meeting up with their third member, they had come to a compromise; both readily accepting less than what they truly wanted in order to work together: Hiruma would let Sena do whatever he wanted and Sena would not get in Hiruma's way so long as both of them didn't feel too strongly about it. If they clashed, the one who got what they wanted would be the one who had the stronger will, the stronger determination, the stronger feeling of not settling for anything but the best.

Upon reaching the field where the third member of their club had been practicing, Kurita greeted the pair enthusiastically, merriment and excitement practically brimming from his voice. Hiruma responded back, unimpressed that not only had Kurita acted so idiotically just because they had three members by waking up early, but also peeved that the heavier teen broke the training equipment, too. Sena watched on in curiosity, particularly in Kurita's power, and then in Hiruma's slip of tongue about the Principal personally funding their sports equipment. After losing interest in his upperclassmen's conversation, a ladder spread out on the ground caught Sena's attention. Kurita, seeing the chocolate-haired boy's eyes completely focused on the object, happily explained what the ladder was used for.

"That's used for the ladder drill! It's a basic training to learn the movement of football of American football. You can practice how to step moving like this." The bigger teen demonstrated the motions for the exercise, and as a respectful underclassman, Sena followed his movements. After the younger teen got the exercise down to a tee, both were called by Hiruma who by this time had a stopwatch in his hand, which was then casually handed off to Sena to clock the times for the 40 yard dash for both him and Kurita.

Fiddling with object he just received, Sena asked curiously, "How many seconds does it usually take to run 40 yards?"

Hiruma said seriously, not taking his eyes off of Kurita setting up the area for the run, "For average players, it's about 5 seconds. You can say the 5-second barrier is the difference between an average player and a sprinter." The blond bared his teeth at to what he said next, "If a high school student can do it in 4.8 seconds, he can go anywhere. High school's fastest guy is named Shin, and his is 4.4 seconds."

Sena nodded at the information given, and then clocked the heavy-set teen's 40 yard dash. After Hiruma's dramatic and hostile reaction to Kurita's 6.5 seconds, the brown-haired boy then clocked the blond's time which happened to be 5.1 seconds. Sena was now the only one who had not done the run.

What happened next was expected and was the only thing that _could_ happen. Hiruma started it.

**A TYPICAL KOBAYAKAWA SENA MOMENT:**

While Sena had learned to let some things go, he had also learned that he wasn't able to let others to be so due to personal experiences and his nature.

Someone challenging him about his ability to do something was one of them.

"4.2 seconds," Hiruma goaded Sena, the epitome of a practiced bullfighter waving a red cape at a ready-to-rage-anytime bull. "I bet you can't do it."

Sena wasn't taking any of that. "I bet you I can."

(Hiruma, with his own personal information network and investigation skills, already knew that Sena could run the 40 yard dash in 4.8 seconds without breaking a sweat. He just wanted to see if his theory of pushing the younger boy could actually make the boy go faster.)

The younger male's eyes started sparking, the effect similar to how bronze would be tempered by a blacksmith, and he readied himself to run. Fury simmered in Sena's organs, flowing through his veins and blood, and a brief look of something monstrous crossed his face. Hiruma shot his gun, but still caught a glimpse of the mud-haired boy's facial expression.

Time stopped exactly at 4.2 seconds, and Hiruma smiled wickedly despite the fear he felt just a few seconds ago when he saw the malignant look on his underclassman's face. Even if Kobayakawa Sena was dangerous, Hiruma didn't care so long as the kid worked with and for him.

Sena, having recognized that he had played exactly _right_ into the blonde's hands, didn't know whether he should feel impressed by the other's cunning and perception skills or be irritated at himself on having been so easily riled up. The demonic quarterback, after having cackled his share of suspicious mad scientists' laughs, then had the _gall _to drop the short notice of the century, something which Sena would later think its effect was the exact same as the feeling when one of SquareEnics(1) top shareholders suddenly pulled out from them due to one of their new games being advertised too early and therefore was of bad quality.

"By the way," the blond said offhandedly, as though it was the afterthought of that one item someone almost forgot from their grocery shopping list, "the tournament starts tomorrow."

Sena felt like strangling the upperclassman with his own shoelace.

—

A/N: Footnotes ahoy!

(1) SquareEnics is a bad attempt on my part on referring to the game company SquareEnix that has done the popular Final Fantasy video games, their most famous one being Final Fantasy 7 I think due to the fact that it saved them from going out of business if I remember correctly. In case you didn't know, what Sena referred to actually happened to the company. Around the time of October 2, 2010 to October 7, 2010, an anonymous private investor owning more than 1% of the SquareEnix stock had those who managed his stock to sell it off due to one of the company's products being substandard. The share price abruptly dropped and was a shock for a time for many gamers.


	6. 3 plus 8 equals 11?

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 19+  
Warning: OOC, AU  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. Dangerous!Sena.

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME.

—

Chapter 6: 3 + 8 = 11?

_Featuring:_

The necessity of 8 people — the Devil's Handbook otherwise known as 'the little black book'— Ishimaru Tetsuo — sugarless gum – and penalty game #1

—

**AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT KOBAYAKAWA SENA:  
**Kobayakawa Sena was a remarkably polite boy under normal circumstances.

This wasn't one of those times.

"So we need eight people by tomorrow for tomorrow's game," Sena said casually, as though he was explaining exactly _why_ one plus one would equal to eleven, which really meant he wasn't speaking casually at all but instead in a flat, sarcastic, _how-did-you-even-pass-first-grade?_ tone, "Eight people who, for better or worse, probably have no idea how to play American football, or, if they do know how to actually play, don't want to play at all." The brunette then stared down at Hiruma as the cleaning lady would stare down a cockroach, and even though he was several inches shorter than the blond, the effect of his _you-are-stupid-to-think-that-combining-vegetables-with-sweets-could-ever-be-a-good-idea_ stare that somehow conveyed the same message a 6-year-old would give their parents on their absolute _brilliant_ thought of making them eat something like asparagus ice cream was not lost upon anyone in the room. Only one thing could be said:

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Sena almost-but-not-quite-shouted. His voice was apathetic and he was unimpressed by the bomb the blond upperclassman had suddenly dropped on them. The fury in the brunette's body started to churn underneath his skin, like a frozen river in winter with raging waters, but the feeling didn't quite break the surface. Not yet.

But it was close.

The shorter boy took a deep breath, closing his eyes as if to ask God for the strength to not kill the manipulative demon in front of him, and calmed down enough to point out the obvious. Besides, it wasn't the right time for him to go a little crazy, a little unrestrained and maybe a touch out-of-bounds. There was plenty of time for that later, more than a few opportunities to remind Hiruma that he wasn't someone to mess or even toy with.

"It's too soon, even by your standards," Sena stated, waiting for the upperclassman's response.

All Hiruma did was smirk viciously, the canines of his teeth gleaming a bright white. He barked out a short, harsh laugh and simply said, "I just said we _needed_ eight people to help us out tomorrow. I didn't say they needed to be _any good_." The older boy gave another cruel cackle, one that rankled the younger auburn-haired boy's ears, before the blond sobered up. The upperclassman then smacked his right hand against the poster on the wall, his face determined and serious as he said his next words:

"Each person three people! I don't care what you have to do: just pull out anybody from the sport teams!" Hiruma's face then changed, his lips curling into a sly smile as he continued speaking, "The guy with the least people gathered is going to do a penalty game."

"Th-three people! Today?" Kurita quietly yelled in surprise, clearly doubting that the tree of them could find volunteers on such short notice.

"Of course," the devil confirmed with obvious relish and twisted delight, the expression on his face absolutely devilish. Sena briefly envisioned what sort of 'penalty games' Hiruma would have in mind: bricks on his knees, being used as target practice, getting whipped—all of it extremely possible—before he shook his head lightly from side to side to get those thoughts out of his head. The terra cotta-haired male grimaced, knowing that there was nothing he could do about the situation, and simply gave a weak smile to the larger upperclassman:

"Let's do our best to gather nine people, Kurita-sempai," Sena said softly, and Kurita tried to give a reassuring smile back even though it was apparent that he didn't feel reassured at all. The three of them then went to their classes and after school had ended, they went to look for people that would help with tomorrow's American football game. Sena had no idea where to start, sporting a troubled expression on his face as he aimlessly walked through the school before he let out a tired sigh. The Basketball Club Room came into view and the brunette resignedly decided that he might as well start there.

"Excuse me," Sena spoke clearly as he slid the door open, taking note immediately that there were two males inside the room, "would you two be willing to participate in the American football game that's being held tomorrow?" The coffee-haired boy asked, patiently waiting for their reply.

The boy with the wavy hair looked a little taken aback by the question, but answered promptly, "Oh—I'll pass. It's a little short notice, you know?" He feebly gave a nervous smile to Sena before quickly turning his head toward the other basketball player, searching for support that this was the right thing to do.

"What he said," the spiky-haired male grunted before nodding his head in acquiescence and confirming that this was true.

"I see," Sena murmured to himself thoughtfully before snapping himself out of his thoughts. He then distractedly gave a murmur of his thanks for their time as he left, already intent on finding other people that would be willing to participate. Before he got very far, though, he heard the two vehemently decline Kurita's offer, and then heard them try to do the same thing again to Hiruma.

**THE DEIMON PRODUCTIONS OFFICIALLY PRESENTS:**  
The Devil's Handbook  
by  
_Hiruma Yoichi_

The mahogany-haired boy quietly slinked back to the Basketball Club Room's door to witness firsthand Hiruma's uncanny blackmail prowess and shamelessness.

"You're going to play in the American football game tomorrow!" The blond affirmed evilly with malignant glee.

"We already said we won't participate!" The spiky-haired boy yelled in annoyance.

"Oh…?" Hiruma said interestedly, his face turning even more devious. "That rebellious attitude… I bet you guys are first years, eh?" He then took out a little black notebook, the sight of it chilling Sena down to his bones.

"You're First Year Class 2's Satake-kun and Class 5's Yamaoka-kun," the blond upperclassman said slowly with evident amusement, "Satake-kun is the one who stole the girls' swimming team underwear and Yamaoka-kun gives a good morning to Kago Ai's poster everyday! Wow, this is painful!"

"How do you even—"

"You—"

The blond male then smiled mysteriously before taking out from somewhere a handheld loudspeaker, suddenly running and shouting through it, "Now I'll think I'll tell that to everyone!"

As he heard the desperate pleas and begging of the basketball players for Hiruma to stop, Sena quickly backed away from the door and hurried away so as not to get caught up in one of Hiruma's schemes. He then headed for the Track Club's Room, finding a dark-haired male in it, and asked if the older boy would want to join in the American football game tomorrow.

"American football game?" the dark-haired upperclassman questioned curiously before nodding his head in agreement, "That's fine, I'll play!"

"Really?" Sena said in surprise, slightly amazed that someone would be willing to play on another sports team on such short notice.

"Yeah," the older boy—Ishimaru Tetsuo—agreed amicably with an easy smile, "and plus, you know, Hiruma's gathering all the freshman too, right? If I play with them, I'll be able to find out their athletic ability. Then I'll invite them to the track team. Isn't that okay? It's give and take." The dark-haired upperclassman then said suddenly with an apologetic face and a little apprehension, "It's just that I work part-time at the town magazine delivery and I have to deliver it by tomorrow afternoon. You don't mind helping?"

"No, of course not," the younger brown-haired male said hastily and readily, immediately putting a stop to whatever notion the older boy had in his head. Ishimaru smiled in relief, and together both of the boys were able to deliver the magazines in record time. Sena quickly parted ways from the taller male, and headed back to the American Football Club. He put one American football helmet pin over his name on the poster and counted how many pins there was altogether on the piece of paper.

"With you on the team, we just have enough," Kurita gave a breath of relief, "I'm so glad that you're here, Sena-kun." The larger boy then laughed nervously, looking as if he just barely dodged a bullet, his skin pale and a thin sheen of sweat just barely there on his forehead. Sena fidgeted awkwardly, uncertain on how to behave in this sort of situation.

"Um… that is—"

The door suddenly banged open, an angry voice literally spitting fire, "That fuckin' convenient store! It ran out of sugarless gum! Even flies won't chew a stinkin' sweet gum!" As Hiruma continued to swear and go on about the irritating annoyance that was sold-out sugarless gum, he threw two cold soda cans towards Kurita and Sena, not caring whether either of the two caught the cans or not. The blond then cooled down enough to put more pins above his name on the chart on the wall.

Kurita then gave a whoop of delight, saying, "We did it!" while Sena simply blinked at the sheer number of people that the blond upperclassman was able to 'recruit'. Hiruma, after hearing that, tore the larger boy a new one:

"**We** didn't do it! I'm the one who gathered all of them, you good for nothing fatso! Nevermind, give me back the cola! I don't have a single drop of fluid to spare for someone like you to drink! Dehydrate and die!" The blond male screeched in righteous indignation as Sena made a tactical retreat to get away. The next morning at the Deimon Train Station, the American Football Club gathered, as well as the 'volunteers'.

"So where are the extremely cute cheerleaders?" Volunteers #1-4 asked enthusiastically, obviously excited at the prospect that there would be _girls_ cheering for **them**.

"Oh, they'll come later," Hiruma cackled indulgently for the poor fools, hands in the front pockets of his pants. All Sena could do was shiver at Hiruma's tone and the implications that were held within it. Oh, Sena knew that Hiruma wasn't _lying_, per se, but he knew that the older boy wasn't telling the whole truth, either. The blond would have the cute cheerleaders come, but how he would get them… well, that was a whole another story altogether. Probably either by blackmail with the Devil's Handbook or blatant bribery, something that would have been illegal and would have gotten an ordinary man arrested if his name wasn't Hiruma Yoichi.

"Come to think of it," Sena mentioned offhandedly in a bid to not think too much of the taller blond's methods of manipulation, "Kurita-san is late."

"Penalty game," the older blond male stated lightly.

Sena stared at the blond for a moment, dreading the answer to his question based on the neutrality he had felt from the other's voice, "And… what kind of penalty game was… that?"

"I won't do something really cruel before a game. He's just a baggage carrier," Hiruma said carelessly, shrugging his shoulders and moving his hands in a _what-you've-got-to-do-you got-to-do _sort of manner.

And then the Sena found out exactly how much baggage a baggage carrier had to carry.

**ONE REMARKABLE NOTE AMONG SEVERAL TO KNOW ABOUT HIRUMA YOICHI:  
**He had an unhealthy affection for cruel and unusual 'penalty games'—ones that weren't unlike the cruel and unusual punishments used by certain governments in certain societies.

The baggage Kurita had brought easily towered the diminutive brunette—at least twice his height and triple in weight.

_I'm glad…_ Sena thought in apprehensive tension, his body tightly wound up as he gulped imperceptibly, _I'm really glad I found one person_, and wondered momentarily if the other penalty games Hiruma had in his head were just as bad.


	7. Bats versus Cupids

Fandom: Eyeshield 21  
Title: The Fast and The Furious  
Author: hana-akira AKA rurichi  
Character: Kobayakawa Sena  
Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort  
Rating: 20+  
Warning: OOC, AU  
Prompt: Inspired by Ch. 178 when Sena has his wonderful furious expression and Ep. 114 when Agon slightly notices Sena's fury.  
Summary: In a world where Sena never met Mamori or Riku when he was younger, he gives into his fury and thus becomes a different person. – —Dangerous!Sena, Sena-centric, OOC

A/N: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak had a heavy hand in my writing of this fic. If you've read the book, you'd notice that some sentences are carbon copies or very similar: this is done INTENTIONALLY. I am not claiming credit; I am not plagiarizing. I DON'T GET ANYTHING OUT OF THIS BESIDES YOUR TIME. Honorifics will be used since the English translated manga also uses them.

-About the American football matches… they'll be brief and stay as close as Canon as possible (such as if a team won in Canon, they will win in TFATF; the same thing going for losing). This is because I don't understand American football all that much beyond what's in the manga. So if you were expecting epic American football match descriptions… you'll sadly be disappointed.

"Character is speaking."  
_Character is thinking (will most likely be stated that s/he is thinking)._

—

Chapter 7: Bats vs. Cupids

_Featuring:_

A train ride — one piece of burnt paper — the Deimon Devil Bats vs. the Koigahama Cupids — a photo of Sakuraba Haruto — a brief glimpse of Sakuraba Haruto and Shin Seijuro — and Sena's thoughts on the Deimon Devil Bats' glaring problem

—

**ONE PROBLEM KOBAYAKAWA SENA HAS WITH HIRUMA YOICHI:  
**The blond did what he wanted, even when it was easier to just _ask_.

Conveniently, the train carriage they got into was empty, most likely—as Sena took a peek outside the train window—due to the sign saying the carriage was being cleaned and told people to move to another carriage. The train ride to the football field was relatively peaceful, with most of the players a considerable distance away from Hiruma and therefore, by proximity, also away from him and Kurita since the two of them were the closest to the blond. And it would have stayed peaceful if the blond hadn't suddenly burned the roster for the Tokyo Tournament in Sena's hands with his lighter.

"Honestly," Sena admonished Hiruma, ticked off and unimpressed by the older boy's actions while Kurita spluttered in his seat at what the blond did, "you don't have to be so dramatic about it. You could have asked for the paper. There was no need to burn it." Was it really so hard for the older teen to just ask for something instead of just doing whatever he wanted? While Sena knew it was Hiruma's usual modus operandi to do what he thought was necessary immediately—whether it was with blackmail, threats, or something else entirely—asking was also a viable method of getting one's way, too. When it became obvious that the other teen was unrepentant, however (the raised eyebrows being a dead giveaway), Sena just bit the inside of his cheeks.

"Don't be thinking of unnecessary things," Hiruma said brusquely as he snapped the lighter in his hands shut, "Win today's game! Think only about that."

_You say that_, Sena thought tiredly, holding back a grimace and a sigh, wiping off the ashes on his hands off, _but it's only polite to know the name of an opponent. And seriously, it's just rude to burn other people's things right in front of their eyes with no remorse. He doesn't listen and it's useless to tell him anything._

The blond snorted, seeing through instantly the sepia-haired male's thoughts. "Today's opening game opponent is the Koigahama Cupids," Hiruma said blandly before pocketing what was left of the roster into the back pockets of his pants. From the tone alone Sena could already foresee that the opponent wasn't much to talk about, even if they were the enemy. Most likely they didn't take American football as seriously as they should have, and instead used juvenile methods to rile up their opponents such as insulting and taunting, but had really nothing at all except maybe superficiality to back up all the talk. All bark and no bite. He probably won't even have to be in today's game, and it was with this thought that Sena gave a curt nod to Hiruma, the feeling of irritation subsiding to a contemplative calmness.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful, and they arrived at their destination just as the other game ended. There was the almost-disaster of the players wearing the cleats used for artificial turf instead of grass, but Sena was able to catch onto that problem by seeing the bottoms of the cleats, and switched them out immediately. It made Sena wonder for a moment what Kurita-san was thinking, then just wrote it off as the older boy's mistake. It wasn't unheard of for some people to have nerves before an American football match and over-prepare themselves with things they didn't need.

**ONE PROBLEM KOBAYAKAWA SENA HAS WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN GENERAL:  
**Their entire way of _thinking_.

As expected, the Koigahama Cupids riled their team up in the typical manner of _I-have-something-you-don't-have-but-would-definitely-kill-to-want_. In short: girlfriends. Specifically, girlfriends helping their boyfriends do their warm-ups.

"We'll definitely beat them!" Slave-but-not-really-anymore-since-girls-were-now-involved #1 spat out.

"More like kick their asses!" The rest of the former slaves roared.

"Hell yeah!" …And so on and so forth.

"All members of the Koigahama Cupids have girlfriends and are famous for bringing them to the games," Hiruma interjected, which just added even more fuel to the fire that was already brightly burning. Sena could only be embarrassed and exasperated for the boys who were agitated by such an immature maneuver. Because really, girls? What were they, preschoolers? It wasn't like it was that hard to get a girl to be friends with you and then ask them to cheer you on. All you had to do was be polite and friendly, and eventually over time the girl would do this out of courtesy. The only reason Sena didn't have a girl as a friend was simply because he hadn't found a girl that he actually wanted to be friends with, with the exception being the girl he had seen at Orientation and hadn't seen since then.

Then one of the 'volunteers' stupidly asked him if cheerleaders were coming. Particularly, cheerleaders _he_ arranged for. Sena just stared at the idiot, torn between facepalming his own face or slapping the face of the stupid boy in front of him, the fury inside him bubbling up at a rapid pace with fiery vehemence. _If you want a girlfriend_, Sena thought nastily, infuriated beyond belief and already thinking of ways he could bend the other boy's back with an American football helmet, _then get your own. Quit making others do things you can do on your own for you._ Thankfully before a scene was made—one with bodies on the ground that didn't include Sena's—Hiruma bribed the girls from the opposing team with a teenage boy's photograph to cheer for the Deimon Devil Bats instead.

"Who is this boy and where did you get this photo?" Sena asked incredulously once he had calmed down, the photograph of a blond-haired young man in a #18 blue and white American football uniform nervously smiling at the camera currently held in his hands. He could see Hiruma was grinning menacingly behind the teen, and felt a little sympathy for what the other boy must have gone through when Hiruma either blackmailed or threatened him.

"Oh, that's Jari-Pro's Sakuraba-kun in Oujou Private High School's American Football Club, the Oujou White Knights. Last year we forced him to take it during a practice game," Kurita said before continuing on, "The Oujou White Knights is an excellent team. They were very strong. But somehow we held on 99-0—"

The blond upperclassman cut in, "You know at least the basics, right, fucking shorty?"

The burnt sienna-haired boy rolled his eyes and just answered promptly in a brisk tone, "If you hold the ball and run into the end zone, you score 6 points. If you kick it between the goal posts, you only get 3 points. Although there's an advantage to run since you get 3 more points over the kick, the opponent will try to stop you by tackling you, which forces you to find a way to somehow avoid him. Right?"

Hiruma smirked, pointing at the younger teen as he said his next words, "If it looks like we're going to win, we won't put you in. We don't want our secret weapon getting found out so early, after all. But if it looks like we're in trouble by even 1 point, you're in."

Sena nodded in understanding, and sat down on the bench in order to tape the game. His eyes turned calculating, dim and narrow, the color of his eyes like dying flowers rotting and withering away.

_I know only a bit of the rules…_ Sena reflected; the video camera steadied by his fingers. _American football is a sport __played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone by running with it or throwing it to a teammate or teammates and then running with it. Points can be scored by carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line, catching a pass thrown over that goal line, kicking the ball through the opponent's goal posts, or tackling an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone. The game begins with a coin toss to determine which team will kick off to begin the game and which goal each team will defend. There are three options the winner of the coin toss can take: to kick, receive, or choose a goal to defend. Each team then gets into a formation and a player from the offense team placed at the center pops the ball behind him from the inseam. At that instant, the game starts and you pass, run, or kick. So somehow or another, it's good to keep the ball moving forward. I still need to understand more, though_, the brown-haired male noted mentally.

By the end of the 2nd quarter (meaning that the game was halfway through since one game was equivalent to four quarters), both teams were still scoreless. In a way, Koigahama Cupids' offense was powerful, but its soft line was no match for Kurita Ryokan. Compared to the Devil Bats' offense, Hiruma Yoichi had a nice pass, but amateur teammates, which made every pass so far incomplete.

It was during the half-time intermission that the blond quarterback let out a sound of aggravation, crushing the water bottle in his hands as his eyes honed in on something across the American football field. Both Kurita and Sena turned towards him, curious on what could be the source of Hiruma's annoyance.

"See that?" the blond pointed, and at the end of the point were two young men, one of whom Sena at once recognized as Sakuraba Haruto. He didn't, however, recognize the stoic, black-haired young man that was next to Sakuraba.

"Ah! It's Sakuraba-kun!" Kurita exclaimed in surprise.

"Sakuraba?" Hiruma said almost derisively before his voice turned stern and severe. "Next to him, you fucking fatty! Shin from the Oujou White Knights—the strongest and fastest linebacker in high school."

"Yeah…" the larger boy agreed. "I felt it during the practice game last year."

"A linebacker, huh?" Sena commented thoughtfully. "So he stops both a run and a pass."

"It's him I don't want to show our hidden gem to since he'll work on a counter-measure," the blond went on, gesturing with his finger in Sena's direction, and Sena just sighed resignedly at the older teen's actions, slowly becoming used to the blond's brand of rudeness and honesty.

The game resumed and it was near the end of the game when Kurita tackled the Koigahama Cupids' running back near the 10-yard line, the distance close enough to the goal that the Koigahama Cupids attempted a kick. Fortunately, their team was able to intercept, what with the ball's trajectory course changing when Ishimaru's fingertips grazed it, and the ball was caught by Yamaoka Kenta, the light-haired basketball player that Hiruma had 'recruited', although it almost fell out of his hands. Yamaoka tossed the ball to Satake Yohei, the other basketball player Hiruma blackmailed, who then passed the ball to Ishimaru, the ball fumbling just a little bit. By sheer luck, Ishimaru was able to catch it, dash to the opponent's end zone—thereby make a touchdown—thus ending the game with a score of 6-0 with the Deimon Devil Bats being the winners.

_We were pretty lucky that we had Ishimaru-san, Deimon's track and field captain, playing for us_, Sena considered. _But we won't always be this lucky. He won't always have time to participate in our games. And that's not even considering the bigger and much more important problem our team has._ He looked on at the players the blond upperclassman was able to 'recruit', and could only wince at the direction his thoughts were spiraling down into concerning the team's 'volunteers'.

_At best, they're cannon fodder that can be used for distracting the opponent from focusing on the actual people who know how to play. At worst, they're just there like scarecrows so that we actually have enough people to play. What we need are players who truly want to play and are willing to put in the effort to always try to win, even if the chances of winning is only 1%. We need permanent players who are in for the long run who know what to do during the game. Not amateurs who don't even know how to use their body to do even the most basic of actions like catching or holding the ball. Right now, we only have two players who are competent—three if you include me, but I'm just a newbie so who knows how useful I can be at the start—while the enemy has eleven capable people on their side. It's like a game of chess where we only have a king, a castle, and a pawn yet the other side has a complete set. We'll be hard-pressed to even score if we don't get better linemen or at least a receiver soon._

It alarmed Sena on how pressured the team was during the game with the Koigahama Cupids. Although they were able to win 6-0 with a touchdown by Ishimaru, that touchdown was won by the skin of their teeth. If the Koigahama Cupids were just a little bit better or if Kurita and Hiruma weren't as good as they were in their positions, the Deimon Devil Bats would have definitely lost—

"We got our first win and have three members! At the rate we're going this year, we can go all the way to the top!" Kurita cheered, soundly interrupting Sena's thoughts. "Let's ask Hiruma who we'll play next."

"The Oujou White Knights," Hiruma stated, nonchalant and unconcerned.

Distantly, as Kurita went into a state of shock and he himself made a facepalm, Sena wondered if Hiruma did things last minute on purpose so that people didn't think 'unnecessarily' or if he just did it because he got a kick out of it.

_Well_, Sena thought, trying to look at things from a positive light, though more resigned than optimistic, _at least those two players from the Oujou White Knights who came to scout only know of Hiruma and Kurita-san. They still don't know that there's a third member to the Deimon Devil Bats._

But for how long? In the end, the thought didn't reassure Sena much if at all, and he could only hope that the team didn't get destroyed 99-0 like they did the previous year.

—

A/N: Additional notes.

-Modus operandi is a Latin phrase meaning "method of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working. Basically their method of operating or functioning.


End file.
